Its Saturday evening and I head for the Showgrounds in Navan for the quarter final showdown between Blackhall and ourselves.Our Padraic, 5 years ,Evan's son comes with us with a complete set of gear,that is bag packed with boots ,knicks,socks boxers ,towel ,hurley and helmet.And ,which was never about in my day,deodorant for freshness afterwards.Isn't Evan's wife great all the same.Packing for husband and son.We have to persuade him to leave the gear in the car at the game as he won't be playing just yet.No problem.
The stile man on duty is at his highly civilised best and ensures a smooth entrance for me.Fair dues Dessie.The pitch is at its immaculate best and the weather is grand with a strong breeze blowing towards the clubhouse end.
The 4 .00 p.m. start caught me out somewhat and the game was on when I arrived.Against the wind we were level pegging at 3 points each.
Our quatrain of Flange,Junior,Mc Loughs and Frog lined them out as follows.
Doc
Sprog (Capt) Finn Red
Swiss Wright Ivo
Bomber O Shea
Martin Keith Geraghty
Gorey Baby Doc Spongy
Yes we do have monikers here but that does not make us Pikers as some Blackhall players taunted us.Not that we would mind fielding any Traveller eligible to play for us had we got them.I have heard this term of abuse used against Travellers ,but usually by certain low bred English bigots and not here before.Just goes to show that the spawn of the Tans thrives in some still.This sort of thing has no place in the game of the Gaels and the sooner it is culled from its supposed participants the better.And sad to relate similar abuse has spread to Camogie circles as I am aware that certain young players our Camogie sisters field were threatened at least once by the opposition before the ball was thrown in.Not good enough says I.
Well back to the game itself.
From the puck out after the levelling Blackhall point a series of line balls in our favour result with the ball eventually reaching Baby Doc who is blown up in possession,why I don't know.Some committed play from both sides ends with Blackhall taking a point from play.An inter passing move between O Shea and Ivo gets the ball to Martin who takes a fine point.
4 points apiece.
Finn breaks up a probing attack and delivers to o Shea who passes to Ivo ,whose long delivery breaks to Keith and he is blown up .The crowd are vociferous in their displeasure at the free for which no reason is apparent from the stand.The first of what will transpire to be many Blackhall breaks in play results when a gaggle of physios ,water boys and maors enter the field of play to treat a player who appears to be on death's door but miraculously recovers some minutes later.Blackhall land a long free in our goalmouth but we are awarded a free out.Square ball perhaps.Bomber catches our free and lets it into the forwards.Another free out to them.This clean but manly game is being riddled with frees.Blackhall play the tidier hurling and secure a point from play.Doc's puck out finds Geraghty ,who delivers to Martin who pulls the trigger but misses.Wide.Blackhall 10 gets a free ,not clear to me what for.Point.0-6 to 0-4 to Black hall. Spongy wins the ball and passes to Gorey who hits wide.Referee gives a free to Blackhall which they point and gives Bomber a yellow card.I am baffled.They miss. Blackhall water boy is on pitch again.These antics must distract players .Black hall attack is broken up by Sprog to Bomber to Ivo to Gorey to Baby Doc who splits the posts.
Ivo wins puck out and lets in low but it crosses the sideline.O Shea is fouled in possession and Ivo's free goes to Geraghty whose delivery is foiled by a fine block .Black hall earn a free which is an opportunity for another pitch invasion by a gaggle of Black hall physio ,water boys and selector.The dead arose eventually and in fine fettle played on.Free missed target and shortly afterward another more scorable one awarded ,which they pointed.They followed up with a wide from play.Keith catches the puck out and to Bob via Geraghty who is fouled.Happy days.Keith secures the point. 7 to 6 in their favour.Finn breaks up attack and clears under pressure.Blackhall regain possession and point from play.After some robust play Keith is clocked and gets a free.He needs attention .No free.We register a wide and half time whistle blows.
Early on Swiss and Wright changed positions and Spongy went to midfield.
We are two points down but have a strong wind to follow.We are in the hunt .
Minogue replaces Geraghty .Geraghty can consider himself unlucky.
Good defensive play by us force an overcarry by them but Keith misses the long distance free.Black hall hit wide under pressure from Sprog.Doc finds Minogue who hits wide.Gorey shoots wide. Martin takes a fine point from play.Keith atones and splits the posts..Minogue wins puck out with a long distance point following a foul on Bomber.Blackhall waterboy on pitch yet again.
Minogue wins puck out and transfers to Ivo to Martin who scores again.Another intrusion onto the pitch by a waterboy.
A clear Dunderry line ball is blatantly wrongly signalled the other way by three Blackhall officials and a linesman.The crowd howls its frustration.The ref,saw it and gives us the lineball.Successive frees concede by Gorey and d Ivo result in a further point to Blackhall.Wright is blown and they work a point from play.Spongy works ball to Baby.Wide.
Gallant defending forces Blackhall into another wide from play.Good interplay from Finn,Swiss Martin and Baby results in a Spongy point.A Blackhall player is on his back and Physio ,water boys and others invade the pitch.There is a long delay and the seemingly helpless player makes a miraculous recovery, trotting like a spring foal to his position.Mysteriously Martin gets a yellow.Nothing to do with the man on the ground.The crowd again howls in frustration.A scorable free is given against us and moved further in,about twenty yards I judge , but thankfully falls short.They work a point from play however.Another Blackhall player is down and on cue the gaggle of Blackhall officials et al. invade the pitch.When play eventually resumes and with the Blackhall player restored to full vigour ,Bomber secures possession and passes to Spongy who scores.Another unfathomable free is awarded against which Finn repulses twice at the cost of a lineball which they hit wide.Yet another mysterious free is awarded against us and yet again it is moved closer to goal .Everyone is baffled and Blackhall ride their luck and score.They could scarcely miss.Wright is replaced by Keenan.Keith fires over s free.12points each.O Shea off,Gilky on.Red is poled defending his lines but jumps straight up and Keenan hits the resultant free long and true into open ground ,where Spongy collects and is penalised for over carrying.It falls short and we get a free out.Only four minutes to go.Tension is palpable.Our long free lands in their 21 and they get another free out,After fierce defending ,particularly by Sprog and Swiss we concede a point.We are one down with two minutes normal to go.Gorey is fouled and Keith shows that Canning has a peer in Dunderry and levels.Announcement that a miserly three minutes extra time will be played.Seems inordinately short and is wrong.One break alone lasted that time.Blackhall score from play and Carty replaces Gorey.Gilky is fouled and Keith delivers yet again.Liam Dempsey replaces Baby Doc.
Time runs out.Draw game.Extra time.
Sprog wins the toss and elects to play against the wind.
Blackhall hit wide from throw in.And miss another scorable chance.We defend heroically and Blackhall spurn an open goal,Martin misses a scorable chance set up by the speedy Carty.Blackhall water boys on the pitch again.Blackhall full forward is grounded and this sparks another gaggle of Blackhall officials onto the field.The prone player miraculously jumps to life ,defying all the odds seemingly and is given a yellow card as is Finn.Spongy and Keenan slip and the ball rolls to Blackhall who score.They attack ,we repulse and they are awarded a seventy.n.Two Blackhall players lie down and five Black hall officials enter the field of play,This is joke.Eventually they convert the seventy.And refreshed score another from play.They are all over us.Martin scores from play having been set up by Keith.The excellent Carty is fouled and Keith delivers yet again.17 to 16 against us.Martin who was having the game of his life gets a second yellow and line.His opponent gets a yellow also.Most st undeserved and a thorn in Black halls side removed.Blackhall make it 18-16 and Baby Doc replaces Dempsey.Stays same after extra time.
A wild pull on the throw in gives us a scorable chance but ball falls short and as Spongy bends to pick it up he is shouldered in the back resulting in a free to them.I have never seen the like.Fin fields the free is fouled in turn and Blackhall introduce another sub.Finn then takes the free,which we secure and score .18 to 17 now.As is usual when we get up steam another Blackhall man is down,The usual multi peopled invasion happens and the player hops up the finest after a while.The umpire is consulted.They temporarily return to the sideline but the warterboy returns to the field without water,Play resumes and they get a free ,which Davy intercepts and is fouled.Ive scores from an impossible distance.There is hope.Under pressure Blackhall shoot wide from play.Another Blackhall man is down and five more Blackhall officials are on the pitch holding play up yet again.As per usual the apparently mortally wounded player resumes after a considerable time with no obvious impairment.Ball is worked to Baby who shoots wide.A tense period of ding dong play ensues and we score from play.WE concede a seventy ,which they shoot short and a free which they convert.19-19 with a conservative extra three minutes to go.All or nothing now.Desperation stakes.We shoot short to goalie and Bomber kicks wide.The Blackhall physio runs on to the pitch again but has to retreat as no one is down.WE are awarded a scorable free and two Blackhall players drop like slaughtered cattle ..where the free is.Now the physio is in sync with the action and re enters the field.Keith delivers yet again.Great stuff.
Another miraculous double recovery and play resumes we hold out.And the spirit of the game triumphs.Thanks be to God.
The referee was young and I would guess never hurled .It was impossible to guess when he would blow or who might get the free.This was for both sides but had we lost I might have had less charitable thoughts.He can only improve.
The continuous breakages in play caused by the incessant falling of Black hall players to the ground ,if orchestrated ,was an abuse of the rules.Not one apparently injured player failed to miraculously recover as far as I could see and some of the Blackhall officials spent as long on the field as some of thee players.They had ten substitutes and if so many of their players were in such delicate physical condition as to need constant physio attention its a wonder they didn't give the subs a chance.
Goalie and full backs are thriving and while Wright didn't reach the heights of our draw with Rathmoylan he is a good player .He will improve more and most importantly helped me calve a cow later that evening.Swiss is flying and Bomber is manning up nicely.O Shea had an off day by his standards due no doubt to his successful studies.Martin excelled,Keith is priceless and Geraghty did all that was expected from him,Davy Mac is at the height of his game and fulfills all high expectations we have of him,The full forward line did all they could but there is room for improvement there.Minogue,Carty and Gilkinson did well when introduced and Dempsey and Keenan contributed also.
The boys on the line made the right calls.
All in all we were lucky to win but Blackhall have only themselves to blame for losing.Ironically the continuous breaks in play may have done themselves more harm than good.
No comments:
Post a Comment